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History of the Werewolf

In my novel, The Inside Story of the British Bureau for the Arcane: The Carolean Codex , I include werewolf-like creatures that originated from Scotland. My research included wider information and a history of these creatures which I've shared here. I find it fascinating that the idea of the "man wolf" goes back four thousand years! Why is the werewolf such a popular, iconic beast? A look at its appearance in history, books and films, as well as psychology, provide the answers. The Werewolf in Ancient History The earliest surviving example of man-to-wolf transformation is found in The Epic of Gilgamesh - the great Babylonian poem that predates Homer's Iliad and Odyssey by 1500 years and, therefore, stands as the oldest piece of epic world literature - from around 2,100 BCE. After that the Greek historian Herodotus, in 425 BCE, described the Neuri, a nomadic tribe of magical men who changed into wolf shapes for several days of the year. The Neuri were from Scythia, land that is now part of Russia. It's likely this tradition arose from men using wolf skins for warmth and is less of what we'd call a transformation. However, the first reference to the creature we would recognise today as a werewolf is from Arcadia in Greece. Here, Zeus was worshipped as Lycaean Zeus (“Wolf Zeus”). In 380 BCE, Greek philosopher Plato told a story in The Republic about the “protector-turned-tyrant” - Lycaean Zeus. “The story goes that he who tastes of the one bit of human entrails minced up with those of other victims is inevitably transformed into a wolf.” Ovid, in his Metamorphoses also wrote about King Lycaon, defining the modern werewolf legends as murder and cannibalism. In Ovid’s tale, Lycaon mutilated, then killed, a prisoner of Zeus. In retaliation, the god turned Lycaon into a wolf. It's where we get the term, lycanthropy. Ovid even included a passage that details the Lycaon’s transformation – one triggered by first being a human monster before turning into an animal one. “He tried to speak, but his voice broke into an echoing howl. His ravening soul infected his jaws; his murderous longings were turned on the cattle; he still was possessed by bloodlust. His garments were changed to a shaggy coat and his arms into legs. He was now transformed into a wolf.” Saint Augustine of Hippo, took the belief in lycanthropy seriously too. In his City of God , he writes, “It is generally believed that, by certain witches’ spells, men may be turned into wolves. Mostly, this and other similar early Christian references were made in order to attribute shape-shifting of any kind to witchcraft." Werewolves also emerged in early Nordic folklore. The Saga of the Volsungs tells the story of a father and son who discovered wolf pelts that had the power to turn people into wolves for ten days. The father-son duo donned the pelts, transformed into wolves and went on a killing rampage in the forest. Their rampage ended when the father attacked his son, causing a lethal wound. The son only survived because a kind raven gave the father a leaf with healing powers. Werewolves in Medieval Europe The word ‘werewolf’ derives from Old English werwulf (man-wolf), a phenomenon that prompted warnings in laws formulated by King Cnut (he of the attempts to turn back the sea!). He wasn't the only one. Gervase of Tilbury, writing in the 13th century, claimed that “in England we have often seen men change into wolves.” Many so-called werewolves were in fact serial killers. In 1521, Frenchmen Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun allegedly swore allegiance to the devil and claimed to have an ointment that turned them into wolves. After confessing to brutally murdering several children, they were both burned to death at the stake. (Burning was a common means to kill a werewolf.)   Giles Garnier, known as the “Werewolf of Dole,” was a sixteenth-century Frenchman who also claimed to possess an ointment with wolf-morphing abilities. He viciously killed children and ate them, before being burned at the stake.   Peter Stubbe, a wealthy, 16th-century farmer in Bedburg, Germany, turned into a wolf-like creature at night and devoured local people. He was cornered by hunters, who claimed they saw him shape-shift, from wolf to human form. He experienced a grisly execution after confessing (under torture) to savagely killing animals, men, women and children—and eating their remains. He also declared he owned an enchanted belt that gave him the power to transform into a wolf at will. Not surprisingly, the belt was never found. Peter’s guilt is controversial - some people believe he wasn’t a killer but the victim of politically-motivated revenge. (It's worth considering if this story influenced the fairy tale of Red Riding Hood who (along with her grandmother) is eaten by a wolf. The werewolf legend persisted into the twentieth century. Adolf Hitler believed in the creature and wrote about it in his 'Mein Kampf' - “The man born as a wolf always remains a wolf.” The Third Reich were fascinated by the occult and myths persisted of a werewolf army in Nazi circles! In Ireland, the werewolf stories are where we get many of our traditional perceptions. Irish stories tell us the only way to kill a werewolf was with a silver bullet. The person could also transform at will and wasn't reliant on a full moon. Edmund Spenser's 'Faerie Queen' references the werewolf and likely did a lot to establish its existence in Elizabethan England. Werewolves Around the World It's fascinating how the legend of "man-wolf" creatures feature in the majority of cultures. In North America, one example is the Rougarou, a story which likely originated when French settlers settled in North America because the primary source is French, a mispronunciation from the original loup-garou. Good examples are in Cajun communities in Louisiana where the creature hid in swamps. In French-Canadian communities, the loup-garou, was believed to be a cursed man, often guilty of not being a good Christian. For example, people who did not confess during Easter could be cursed to become werewolves. The spell could last for as long as 101 days. It would take hold of the victim every evening. They were then forced to wander the countryside in animal form. The spell might be broken if someone recognized the individual while transformed and could draw blood from the animal . Neither person could speak of this incident, for fear of worse reprisals. Meanwhile, in South America we have the Lobizon, a name that comes from the Portuguese word “lobisomem” meaning werewolf. Lobizon was first described by Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana as “a huge wolf with a human face.” You can see the Lobizon story in many different countries of South America. One difference to traditional stories is that the Lobizon is born, not created by a bite or similar. Likely a curse, stories include the seventh son of a seventh son. This creature remains on four legs. In Asia, we can begin in Turkey where werewolves were called ‘Kurt Adam’ or ‘Kurtadam’. In Turkish folk tales, a werewolf is a man who turns into a wolf at night. It has a dog’s tail and ears, a thick bear-like fur coat, and sharp claws on its hands and feet. It is powerless against garlic and can be killed with a silver bullet (perhaps they knew some Irish people!) China has its own werewolf but this is a different, tragic story. It begins with a Buddhist priest and his pet wolf, who is so intelligent it can read the sacred texts. It yearns to be human and a mountain god tests it by sending the wolf down the mountain to attack people. It meets a blind man, later a mother and child, but spares them, to go back up the mountain where it starves to death. Werewolves and Possible Causes In the past, (you could argue the same is true now!) anyone who differed from the norm suffered from cultural ignorance. They were treated as freaks, sometimes receiving a degree of fame as a result. A good example is Peter the Wild Boy. In 1725, he was found wandering naked, on all fours, in a German forest. Many thought he was a werewolf, or at least raised by wolves. He ate with his hands and couldn’t speak. His notoriety brought him to the attention of King George I and King George II. He was transported to their courts where he became their “pet”. Research has shown Peter likely had Pitt-Hopkins syndrome , a condition discovered in 1978 that causes lack of speech, seizures, distinct facial features, difficulty breathing and intellectual challenges. A genetic condition called hypertrichosis is another likely cause for people inventing the idea of werewolves. The condition causes thick hair to grow over a person’s face and body. Hypertrichosis can be either congenital or acquired later in life. In earlier times, these people found fame in circus sideshows in Victorian times, when the public became fascinated with anyone deviating from the norm. They were frequently called 'dog people'. My research introduced me to British variant of the werewolf - the wulver. This is the creature I used in my story. I have to confess, it's not real. Here's the story: In the 1890s, the Faroese scholar Jakob Jakobsen collected thousands of place names on the Shetland Isles and in 1901 published a book-length article about them and their meanings. ‘Wol’ names were derived from Old Norse álf, fairy - such as ‘fairy hill’. Jessie Saxby (1842-1940) writing in 1933, in her book Shetland Traditional Lore, described the ‘The Wulver’. She described it as, ‘a creature like a man with a wolf's head. He had short brown hair all over him.' Jessie was the sole creator of the Shetland wulver. No-one before Jessie had ever heard of a Shetland wolf-man, it was purely an imaginative fabrication, one that has entered into British folklore. What is it about werewolves? This mythical creature has existed in stories for over four thousand years. That tells us something significant, doesn't it? For a story to last that long and remain as popular as it is today. Fun fact - there have been over three hundred films made about werewolves! So why is this? In Psychology Today , the cause lies firmly at the feet of psychological empowerment. The wolf is an apex predator, it's powerful, intelligent. It's scary. Its descendants are also familiar to us - dogs. They are the softer, tamed and civilised versions of the same animal. Modern werewolf stories build on this difference. Many of the films adopt the premise of the lowly, shy individual who transforms into a powerful alpha-type once bitten. In the 1994 film 'Wolf', Jack Nicholson plays such a character who not only gets back the job he's been fired from, he gets the girl and his revenge on those who treated him badly. A year later Michael J Fox played a similar character, this time linking his transformation to puberty! (Who knew growing hair could be so dangerous!) The relevance of puberty has been pursued in other stories, interestingly from a female perspective, such as in the 2000 film 'Ginger Snaps' and in Angela Carter's feminist interpretation of the Red Riding Hood story, The Company of Wolves. The psychology of the myth tells us transformation can be exciting, as an animal it allows us to consider life without ethical concerns - killing turns into a predatory act, without consequence. It turns the human into something better, something bigger, stronger, faster. Even so, those moral issues remain. After all, the werewolf must die in the end (unless you're Michael J Fox or Taylor Lautner!) Before the silver bullet is fired, before the full moon is replaced by the morning sun, the character of the werewolf offers authors a chance to explore the dark corners of the human psyche. Robert Louis Stevenson did it by transforming his Jekyll into Hyde but the werewolf takes it further. The beast reminds us those dark corners of the mind are where the animal still resides inside us, ready to be released. Phil Parker writes fantasy stories, click the image to find out more.

History of the Werewolf

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